Michigan Rep. Erin Byrnes recently introduced the Weight Loss Products and Minors Act, a bill that seeks to ban the sale of dietary supplements positioned for weight loss and/or muscle building to minors. The bill’s language follows that of similar bills introduced in nearly a dozen other state legislatures, including a law currently in effect in New York.

The bill, which was written with support from Harvard University’s Strategic Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED), requires retailers to check ID before selling any “over-the-counter diet pill,” and all implicated products must be kept behind a counter or locked in a case. The bill names steroids, creatine, green tea extract, raspberry ketone, garcinia cambogia, and coffee bean extract, but also seeks to implicate any product making structure-function claims related to weight loss, appetite, overall metabolism, or muscle health.

“Diet pills are not something children need and marketing them to minors is simply wrong,” said Byrnes. “These products can be dangerous, come with serious side effects, and minors who use them are far more likely to develop body image issues, dysmorphia, or eating disorders later in life.”

If the bill is passed into law, retailers who violate the age ban will face civil fines of up to $1,000 per violation.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), which has opposed state bills seeking age restrictions and sued the state of New York to challenge the constitutionality of the law passed there, maintained similar criticism of the bill’s broad language. The trade association also maintains that there is no reliable evidence linking the use of dietary supplements, as a class of products, to eating disorders.

Michigan House Bill 5250 “is premised on a misunderstanding of both the science and the regulation of dietary supplements. There is no credible evidence linking these products to the development or worsening of eating disorders, and age restrictions would not address the complex psychological and social factors that truly drive these conditions,” CRN stated. “Dietary supplements are already extensively regulated by the FDA, and imposing age limits would unnecessarily restrict access for all consumers, stigmatize safe and legal products, and, because these kinds of bills are often overly broad, risk sweeping in basic vitamins and minerals never intended to be targeted.”